Source of Apple's MacBook Price Cut Revealed

By: Benzinga

Posted: 2/22/2013 1:23:00 PM

Referenced Stocks: AAPL;GOOG;INTC

Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL
) surprised consumers when it announced that it had
lowered the price
of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. It did not make
much sense for Apple to cut the price so soon after release. At
the time, the 13-inch model was less than four months old. That
did not stop Apple from reducing the price, prompting critics to
speculate about the cause.

There have been signs that the smaller Pro machines are
selling poorly
, especially after bloggers got hold of the device.

"In terms of gaming performance, there isn't much," The
Verge's Nilay Patel
wrote in his review
.

"While the Retina MacBook Pro is easily the most desirable
13-inch Mac laptop to date, the high price and lack of discrete
graphics make it a tough call versus either the more powerful
15-inch Retina Pro or the more affordable 13-inch Air," CNET's
editors
concluded
.

The low performance also caught the attention of
Computerworld's Michael deAgonia. "In terms of actual
performance, the Intel (NASDAQ:
INTC
) i5 processor isn't as fast as the quad-core i7 I'm used to," he
wrote in his review
.

Apple's problems may not be limited to disappointed reviewers
and a weak launch. According to
DigiTimes
, the entire computer segment is expected to remain stagnant
throughout the first half of the year. Taiwan-based supply chain
makers are hopeful that sales will pick up after Intel launches
the Haswell platform in June. Windows Blue, which is thought to
be the first major update to Windows 8, is also expected to give
the industry a boost.

In theory, Apple should have been able to accomplish the same
thing when it released the MacBook Pro with Retina Display.
Consumers do not seem to be overwhelmingly interested in spending
$2,199 on a 15-inch model, or $1,699 on the 13-inch iteration.
The latter was reduced to $1,499 this month. It is not yet known
how much of an impact this will have on Apple's sales.

Google (NASDAQ:
GOOG
), which was rumored to developing a
touch screen laptop
last November, has expanded its market potential with the
company's first high-end machine. Officially known as the
Chromebook Pixel
, the new notebook is Google's answer to the MacBook Air.

However, if consumers are unwilling to spend $1,499+ on a
MacBook Pro with Retina Display, they may not be overly
interested in a weaker $1,299 machine from Google.